"A complex world, a compelling plot and a claustrophobic setting."

Amy had a choice. After her mother was cryogenically
frozen, her father told her that she could choose not to go
with her parents on their three hundred year journey to a
new planet. She could have stayed with her aunt and uncle,
kept seeing her boyfriend, finished school, lived her
life. But she decided to give it all up to stay with her
parents. That's what makes it doubly horrible when she
gets woken up early, while the ship is still in transit.
The reader shares her sense of claustrophobia, her longing
for a real sky.

Part love story, part dystopian nightmare, part murder
mystery, ACROSS THE UNIVERSE takes place in the closed
environment of the ship Godspeed, where history has been
twisted or forgotten, and a new leader, Elder, is being
groomed to take on the tyrannical ways of Eldest, a
manipulative leader who has turned most of the people into
mindless workers. Amy awakens in the middle of this, as
the only one aboard who remembers Earth, the only one who
remembers what it really means to be human. Can she
convince Elder that Eldest's misuse of power is degrading
and wrong? Can she uncover the mystery of who woke her,
and who is killing other members of the cryogenically
frozen planetary landing party? She's going to have to, if
she hopes to survive.

The point of view switches deftly between Amy and Elder,
filling in information gaps and adding depth to an already
complex story. A whole tier of secondary characters are
also well-developed. While the ending does tie up the
salient plot points, at first I thought it was a little
abrupt -- until I found out that this is the first book in a
trilogy. I already can't wait for the next one. Write
faster, Beth Revis!

SUMMARY

A Story of Love, Murder, and Madness Aboard an Enormous
Spaceship Bound for the Future

Amy is a
cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the vast spaceship
Godspeed. She expects to wake up on a new planet, 300 years
in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled
landing, Amy's cryo chamber is unplugged, and she is nearly
killed.

Now, Amy is caught inside an enclosed
world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's passengers have
forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and
frightening leader, and Elder, his rebellious and brilliant
teenage heir.

Amy desperately wants to trust
Elder. But should she? All she knows is that she must race
to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her
tries to kill again.